Three things to consider when onboarding a Community School Coordinator

So you’re ready to onboard your Community School Coordinator! Now what? As with any position, bringing a new Community School Coordinator (CSC) into your school means not just finding the right person for the job, but giving them the support they need to be effective. Here are three things to consider as you bring a Coordinator onto your team.

1. When hiring, favor skills over background

Hiring the right person for your Community School Coordinator role is less about hiring someone from a specific background with a specific, prescribed set of credentials and more about hiring someone who brings the skills and perspective, and personality necessary to be successful in the role.

Successful Community School Coordinators have the ability to build teams, organize, and champion community school (CS) efforts. They have strong organizational and project management skills, and have demonstrated skill and ability to establish and maintain trusting relationships with the community, families, students, and school site.

Who might that be?

• A family liaison who has trusting relationships with parents and caregivers and is ready to take on a larger role;

• A teacher transitioning out of the classroom who has experience designing in and out-of-school partnerships;

• A parent-leader who’s been connected to the school for years and is able to juggle multiple demands and priorities;

• A social worker or case manager whose work has focused on relationship-building and collaborative systems;

• A professional with specific expertise in a field that the planning/design team has identified as a priority for r community school development, like someone from the county health department, or an expanded learning partner;

• A community organizer with deep formal and informal connections in the community.

You get the idea. The point is that the experiences, educational backgrounds, and career trajectories of CSCs can vary quite a bit, and hiring one means striking a balance between background, experience, skills, and personality fit. There is no one “right” profile, but you should be thoughtful; the best person for the job is whoever is right for YOUR school.

2. Set clear boundaries around their time and responsibilities

The first thing to remember during onboarding is that CSCs are NOT just an extra set of hands to be deployed to whatever random need might arise. Instead, they are members of the leadership team tasked with building, supporting and leading teams, strengthening trust between schools, families and partners, and organizing the voices of the school and community to co-create and implement meaningful activities (e.g., family engagement, youth voice, expanded learning opportunities).

Even before their first day – and certainly after it – it’s important to set your team’s expectations of the role so that the CSC’s time, expertise, and talents can be used wisely.

What else do Community School Coordinators need to be successful?

• Space to do their work. We all need a place to call our own, and CSCs are no exception. Make sure you have a dedicated work space for the CSC ready for day one. Ideally, this space is near those of other leadership team members, and readily accessible to the school community.

• Clear expectations and structures for your work together, from frequency of partnership and leadership meetings and check ins, to communications preferences, and hours of work.

• Consistent communication with school staff and teams, parents and caregivers, and community partners about your school’s community school development path–and the important role that your CSC plays within it–.

• Autonomy and decision-making authority. CSCs are school-site leaders. Full stop. They must be seen as having the authority to bring teams together, and to be seen as an honest broker without an organizational or “turf” agenda.

• Leadership buy-in and support. In order for CSCs to be effective, they need to work with principals and leadership teams that: 1) understand the role CSCs play and the broader landscape of CS development, and, 2) proactively support the CSC in their work. This includes reinforcing for other members of school teams the strategic nature of the CSC’s role, resisting the temptation to throw everything without a “home” on the CSC’s plate and communicating clearly with other stakeholders about the work the CSC is there to lead.

3. Use structured space to support their (and your) development

Even with the best of intentions, it can take months – even years! – for Community School Coordinators and their teams to fully understand the role. Leadership teams that invest time, space, and energy to leveraging the skills and experience of their Community School Coordinator can accelerate their CS development, while fully maximizing having a CSC in place.

Along the same lines, CSCs who understand the strategic role they play in their schools can clearly articulate their role to other stakeholders and better connect them into the community school vision and work. And they can see how the work they’re tasked with doing over the arc of the school year will propel CS development forward, faster.

The CS Coordinators Learning Series is an opportunity for CSCs to build off of their existing talents and experiences to hone the skills they need to be successful in the role.

Across three sessions that kick off in a little over a week, Coordinators will get an overview of the community school model, strategies for building trust with key stakeholders, tools to access, analyze and communicate about data, and the skills to build, support and lead your CS team. Click the button below to find dates, times, frequently asked questions, and more.

Can't make the workshop? Not to worry. Explore more resources on the role of the Community School Coordinator, below.

• The Basics: Community School Coordinator (CA Community Schools Learning Exchange)

• Leading with Purpose and Passion: A Guide for Community School Directors (National Center for Community Schools)

• Return on Investment of a Community School Coordinator: A Case Study (Apex & ABC Community School Partnership)

• Community School Coordinators Network (Coalition for Community Schools)

• Small Rurals Sample Job Description (Lost Hills Union School District)

• Community School Coordinator Sample Job Description (Ottawa Community Schools

• Network)

• Sample CSC Job Description (Oakland Unified School District)